Or actually the last 2 weekends, lol. The 600rr.net forum was having a meet at Deals Gap this past weekend (8-12), but barely anybody showed up... there was only about 6 of us in total. But, we still had a good time, even though mother nature sure didn't want to cooperate on saturday. Being that I made this trip twice, some of the pics are kind of repetitive... sorry! I'm just posting them all

A couple people came out early cuz they were spending the whole week there. So I rode out to Deals Gap last Sunday the 5th

Bike all packed up and ready to go! I'm camping out so I got my tent, sleeping bag, pillow, etc all stuffed in there some how



Arrived at the Deals Gap Resort and it was insanely packed with people! In all the times I've been there I've never seen it this packed before. But luckily there was still some open space in the camping area and I was able to find a spot



Unpacked everything and set up the tent right next to the rustling stream





I won't go on the dragon when it's busy like it was... too many idiots that don't know how to ride running into other people (3 wrecks the previous day and 2 wrecks this day). So I just hung around the gap store and waited for the others to arrive. In the meantime, I laughed at the squids and harleys, and saw this little gem



Wasn't too long before I saw 2 600RR's roll in, and what looked to be a super tall dude on the one. I figured that had to be them, so I wander over and look at the tags... sure enough. Met up with Brian and his GF, they had just gotten in after driving 30 hrs straight (1800 miles) from Utah. We waited around for a little while longer for it to die down, then headed up to the overlook







After that they were pretty tired from the drive and wanted to get some rest, so they took off and headed back to their campsite. I wanted to get a sunset picture, but the overlook wasn't a good place, so I made my way down the mountain and over to the Fontana Dam











Still couldn't get a real good sunset picture, but this still looked kinda cool



After this I made my way down to Robbinsville for some dinner, then back to the Gap store to get some sleep. It was a nice night, so I decided to head up to the overlook at 11pm and check it out at night. Talk about a sloooowww ride up there, but holy crap... get to the overlook and I promise you you've never seen so many stars in the sky before! Absolutely spectacular... enough that it almost makes you dizzy looking at it cuz it's endless stars from horizon to horizon. It was so dark though I lost my bike... when I went to leave I couldn't find it and had to wave my arms around in front of me. Finally found it and made my way back to the gap store... slowly, lol

Got up the next morning and went looking for Brians campsite, but never did find it so I just ended up making my way back home

[BEGIN BORING WORK WEEK]

Uggghhhhhhhhhhh...

[/END BORING WORK WEEK]

Friday the 10th... I skip out of work a little early, and make my way back to Deals Gap, this time carrying even more stuff, haha



Arrived there once again, much less crowded this time around



Set up camp yet again, and found out my air mattress is bigger than my tent. Oh well... still worked, just looked a little goofy





Shortly after I got there, I met up with Scott who was staying at Fontana Village... he came over to the Gap store and we then rode down to Robbinsville for some dinner. We met up with 2 other guys from the forum. Brian and his GF couldn't make it cuz they were heading back home and had to leave around that time. Had a great dinner at this mexican place, then just hung out and BS'd until 11pm or so.... good times! I didn't get any pics though. We were all getting tired so they headed back to where they were staying, and Scott and I headed back to the Gap store. Once there I met up with Rodney from the forum, along with running into another guy from one of the other forums I'm on... just pure coincidence he was up there in his WRX, and then several other people that were staying there. We had a nice fire going in the fire pit, and ended up just sitting around the fire BS'ing until 4:20 am when we almost couldn't stay upright anymore, lol. GREAT times though and tons of laughs

Saturday morning I'm woken up at around 6am by the sound of massive raindrops pounding against my tent. I went back to sleep, woke up around 8:30 and it was still raining, laid there for another hour or so then finally dragged my *** outta bed. Got out of the tent and... what a beautiful day!





Take note of that GSX-R parked in front of me



So we're just sitting there in the little shed where they keep the firewood hanging out and staying out of the rain. Dude walks up... "Jared??". I kinda recognized the dude, but couldn't remember his name or where from. Then he mentioned "we used to ride together in Florida".... then I remembered who he was! I couldn't believe he recognized me... I moved out of Florida in 2007 and haven't seen/heard from/talked to this guy in at least 3-4 years. Was great seeing him again and catching up on alot of stuff!

In the meantime, my bike took refuge under a tree...



We waited and waited for the rain to stop, then about 2pm it finally did, and the sky cleared up to a beautiful blue sunny sky. Everybodys plans to meet up and ride that morning were pretty much washed, and others just went home, so it was pretty much just Rodney and myself. We decided to make our way up to the overlook







Some lady took our picture...







Nobody had to add any parts to the tree this weekend, so that was definitely good



We then went back over to the Fontana Dam... he'd never been before



Tunnels to drain the lake





Uh oh... clouds starting to roll in once again









Made our way down to Robbinsville to get some dinner, hitting some rain on the way. Stopped at Fontana Village and hung out with the Honda Civic boys for a few minutes under a canopy and waited for the rain to pass, which only took about 10 mins

Made a stop along the river... not the greatest pic but there was fog hovering over the water... looked pretty cool in person, not so much in the pic



Water was crystal clear



Made a stop at one of the bridges I always like to snap some pics at





Then made a stop at the swinging bridge

 

We finally make it into Robbinsville, and find ourselves at the same mexican restaurant from the night prior. It was good food!



About 8:30 or so we make our way back from the Gap store. As we're going along we start seeing lightning, then the wind picks up, and then about 5 miles or so from the Gap store the sky just opens up with a vengeance. This was without a doubt one of the worst rainstorms I've ridden through in a long long time. Raindrops the size of golf *****, mixed with fog.... yea we couldn't see a damn thing. Had to slow to about 15-20 mph just to see the road, and had to ride with our visors open cuz otherwise you couldn't even see a couple of feet in front of you. Finally made it back to the Gap store, and to say we were utterly soaked would be a gross understatement



Luckily the guy from Florida left the tarp he was borrowing from the gap store and gave it to me to use over my tent. Helped quite a bit keeping stuff dry



We got Rodneys tent all taken down and packed up and everything loaded in his truck, and bike loaded on the trailer, and he took off to go home. It was still raining so there was no campfire this night, so after a nice long hot shower up in the bathhouse I crawled into my tent and played some intense rounds of wheel of fortune to pass some time before going to bed, lol



Woke up sunday morning, luckily to some sunshine and blue skies! I had some clean up work to do after all the rain, so I emptied the tent and put everything out in the sun to dry for a few hours





In the meantime I got something to eat and then hung out at the gap store. Ended up running into 3 guys I knew from the easttnriders.com forum, so hung out and had a good time with them too. I always enjoy seeing all the other sportbike long haul travelers that come here too. Last weekend met a guy on an R6 that rode down from Michigan, then heading up the BRP up to VA. This CBR was from Ontario, Canada



The little stream behind my tent... a the night prior it was more of a raging river, haha



Later in the day, made my way home











Got home, and after being gone for 3 days, somebody was anxiously awaiting my return....





Had to sniff out where I'd been, lol



That's all the pics.... All in all, even with the lack of attendance and the rain, still had a great time with some great people! Hope to do it again next year

 

pretty badass photos man. Would be nice to live close to the dragon.

 

thanks for sharing man good stuff. btw your RR and that orange RR is hot

 

What kind of dog is that as well?

 

Hey good pics man, t'is a a good time down there for sure.

 

Great pics and story! Thanks for posting it up, Ironmang.

 

thanks for sharing your pics the scenery looks bad ***

 

Can I urge you to make a "How to pack a crapload of stuff on your bike" thread?
Seriously, looks like you've got some talent in that department lol. maybe there are some pointers for us.
I always travel 2 up so I cant load the back like you did, but I have the Sport-saddlebags and 2 level magnetic tank bag.

 

gets my vote for best motorcycle documentary.